On January 5th, the Associated Builders and Contractors’ Inc. Empire State chapter held it’s “Road Map to World Class Safety” forum in which dozens of developers and contractors from around the New York City area learned how to enhance their knowledge on the benefits of construction safety reform. Brian Sampson, President of the NY state chapter, hosted the event along with national ABC CEO Mike Bellaman, who lead the event charismatically, representing ABC’s well studied Safety Training Evaluation Process (STEP) program and its substantial difference with the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) industry average reports by the Total Recordable Incident Rate. Mr. Bellaman spoke about the gift of choice, appealing to tragedy and success, and the integrity of the work that the construction industry must uphold.

The capability of ABC’s STEP program has proven in its evidence (1) the need for site orientation; (2) the creation of site committee’s; (3) and substance abuse programs.

One of the more notable points was the commitment to work on a professional and personal level, highlighting the need for persistence and effort. Through this, Mr. Bellaman emphasized the paradigm shift, a concept which challenged each developer and contractors understanding of what that means in the construction industry. This then posed the question of whether it’s the idea of accidents happening or accidents being prevented. Due to this complicated notion, Mr. Bellaman stated, “you’re tested every day, at every minute.”

Coining the term “merit shop contractor,” Mr. Bellaman continued to reiterate the evidence of increased construction safety amongst this group in which productivity and prosperity were and are still the results of working with ABC. ABC is working hard to continuously improve the future of their STEP program and actively encourage all merit shop contractors in the NYC to engage in ABC’s commitment to helping its members achieve zero-incident job sites.